From the Ashes, Ver 2
by Lyokion
Summary: A star fragment, thrown away by Dr. Elefun during creation of the Blue and Red Core, plots its revenge after being tossed like trash. Astro's life quickly returns to havoc as a strange, darker copy of him seeks destruction throughout Metro City. Will he be able to save Metro City from the threat, or will he fail?
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

 _Almost there..._ Dr. Elefun thought as he positioned a glowing rock underneath a laser. Dr. Elefun, a renowned scientist of Metro City, and vice president of the Ministry of Science, was about to make a breakthrough in the field of energy. Three years ago, he had found a strong source of energy not far from where the city floated peacefully in the sky, and upon investigating further, he had found something extraordinary. It was a comet—or a piece of it—that had fallen to Earth many years ago. And what made Elefun so excited about it was that the fragment had inside of it a self-sustaining power source powerful enough to keep the city floating for at least five thousand years! But Elefun's goal went wider than that of his home; he hoped to use it for the good of the world, which had grown sick with pollution over time. That much energy might just be enough to pick the Earth up and put it back on its feet.

Unfortunately, the fragment's energy was very unstable. Elefun, though, discovered that there were different energy types inside of the fragment, and hoped that when he separated them, they might turn stable enough to be used. That was what he was doing now, by positioning the laser over the large fragment. He was only going to nick the surface a little; then he was going to use a machine he'd built to suck out and stabilize the energy. Elefun wasn't sure what he was going to do it his plan didn't work; he could only hope they would.

The laser's tip began to glow, firing a slim beam into the fragment. It stopped after only a few seconds; that was all that was needed. Elefun acted quickly and placed the fragment into his machine that had taken over two years to build. If it worked, the two energies inside of the fragment would be separated and placed inside two different Cores. He was quite sure there were only two, for that was all that came up in his research: a positive and a negative energy. The machine began to hum loudly and tremble slightly. A bright light, purplish color—but slowly dividing into blue and red—lit up the lab he was working in. Elefun backed away, unsure of what to make of the sudden strange behavior. The machine started to vibrate more violently, electricity sparking off of the sides. But suddenly, as soon as it had started, it stopped.

Elefun let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and approached the machine carefully. What he saw made his heart swell with pride. The two Cores he had made to hold the energies were now glowing brightly, one giving off a cheery blue light, and the other a more menacing red. Elefun couldn't help but beam.

"It worked...!" he exclaimed to himself, immensely relieved. He spotted the fragment that the energies had once been contained in, now black and dull. Elefun hesitated for a moment before calling for one of his assistants into his lab.

"Yes, Dr. Elefun?" his assistant asked, walking up to him. She spotted the two Cores and her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "It worked! Your energy project worked!"

"Yes, the first part worked; now it's time for me to see if the positive energy is something I can use," Elefun said. "Would you mind, Yuko, if you made sure this was disposed of?" He held out the dud fragment and she took it.

"Of course," she said. "Anything else I can do for you?"

"No, that's fine." Elefun waved his had, and Yuko left the laboratory.

Holding it under her arm, Yuko made her way over to the disposal area, taking quick glances down at her clipboard while she was walking. Entering the room, she set her board down and took the fragment once more into her hands and put it into a container tube. Yuko pressed a few buttons and the container shot through another tube and into a garbage unit, where robots quickly drove a truck to the edge of the city and dumped their load over the cliff. The fragment clanged in its container as it fell onto the large piles of junk on the Surface below.

The container bounced and clanged against pieces of metal until it finally came to a stop at the bottom of a large junk pile. There it stayed, unmoving and seemingly unimportant. But if one were to look closely at the remainders of the fragment that had once held the two strong energies, they would have seen a strange, dark aura—slightly silver in color and barely even noticeable in the dim light—radiate from the large fragment. There was another energy source inside of the fragment, different from the other two.

And it was angry.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey everyone! It's time for that rewrite I've been talking about. You can still read the original version by clicking on my profile and going down to 'From the Ashes'. I hope you enjoy this version the same as the last! I must warn you though, it is quite a bit outdated lol. And reading the ending to this prologue...uh oh!


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

"GYYYYAAAHHHH!" Zane screamed, as he—for the third time that day—tripped over a metal pipe and tumbled down a small slope made of metal and robot parts. And—for the third time that day—Widget, Sludge, Cora, and Astro cracked up; harder this time, because Zane's top half had gotten stuck in a tube at the bottom of the hill, and his legs were waving about in the air as if he were trying to pedal an invisible bicycle upside down.

"Can you be even _more_ of a klutz?" Cora called, climbing down the hill towards him. Zane's only response was an infuriated, muffled yell.

"I'll get him," Astro said, running towards him and grabbing him my the ankles. It only took one giant tug to get Zane free, and the two sprawled on the ground, groaning and—in Astro's case—laughing.

"It's not. Funny," Zane muttered, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Did Zane-falling-into-holes-upside-down happen often before I met you guys?" Astro grinned, giving Cora a questioning glance. She laughed.

"You'd be surprised," she giggled. "There was one time when Zane got stuck inside an old refrigerator."

Zane's cheeks turned pink. "That was _ONE_ time!" he puffed, crossing his arms with embarrassment and looking away.

Astro got back to his feet and brushed off his pants. "Anyway," he began," I think I should get moving." With a glance toward the sky, he frowned. "I promised Dad I'd be home before dinner."

Cora scoffed and waved her hand in front of her. "Puh-leeease, at least be a _normal_ teenager and stay out as late as you want."

"Won't I get in trouble?" Astro grimaced, his eyebrow raised.

"Pfft!" Cora laughed. "That's the whole _point_ of being a teenager, Astro my friend."

Zane stepped forward. "Yeah! And besides, I promised Hamegg I'd try and find him some parts for his new robot."

"Hamegg's still making robots?" Astro asked.

"Yeah!" Widget answered excitedly. "He's making a nanny-bot for the younger kids. I think it's real sweet."

"Well...I dunno, I did promise..." Astro grimaced. "You know how I am with my promises."

"True, he does go overkill to fulfill his promises sometimes." Zane rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I don't go _overkill_ with them; I just want people to trust me!" Astro defended himself. "If I don't keep my promises, how can—"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Zane interrupted him. "If you don't keep your promises, how can people trust you, yadda, yadda, yadda..."

"It's not a yadda-yadda kind of thing, Zane," Astro mumbled. "I just try to be honest."

"You and your hero complex," Cora laughed.

After a moment, Astro took a few paces backwards. "I'd...better go," he said, laughing hesitantly and pointing over his shoulder. "Dinner... Promises..."

"Okay, suit yourself!" Cora huffed, turning away and bending down to pick up a piece of junk to examine.

Astro sighed and looked down at his boots before turning and jumping into the air to head back towards Metro City.

Cora turned back and watched him fly away with a faraway look in her eyes, his bright blue flames trailing behind him.

"You liiiiiike him!"

Cora zoned back into the present quickly, gasping as Widget came into view, a sly smile on her face. Sludge and Zane looked down from behind her. Cora quickly jumped to her feet and dropped the junk she was examining, brushing off her pants quickly. "I do _not!"_ she flared, her cheeks pink and her blue eyes blazing. Zane and Sludge fell to the ground and burst out laughing, kicking and holding their stomachs. "Be _quiet,_ you two!" she snapped, embarrassed.

* * *

Astro soared across the sky, racing back to his home. The sun was just setting, the clouds momentarily dyed a stunning array of purples, reds, and golds. Astro gave a whoop as he dove into one of the clouds, feeling a slight electrical charge from the friction. He put on a burst of speed, and was soon racing towards Metro City, which was beginning to light up like a mass of fireflies. It had been several months since the attack with the Peacekeeper and the alien. All the rubble had been cleared away, most of the buildings rebuilt and refurbished, and Astro had been unofficially named the protector of Metro City. He took his duty as protector quite seriously, so much so that his friends said he'd developed a large hero complex. Not that there was anything really wrong with that; it just made hanging out with his friends a little harder. They understood though, thankfully. But they couldn't help teasing him about it sometimes. Astro neared the patio of the penthouse, cutting off his rockets and landing with a thud.

"Hello Master—er, Astro," Orrin, the housebot, greeted him. "You're just in time for dinner."

Astro lifted his chin and sniffed the air, immediately met with a delicious aroma. "What's for dinner?" he asked, entering the penthouse. Orrin followed him, listing off what was on the menu.

"Well, tonight it's pulled pork and mashed potatoes with gravy, with broccoli and asparagus on the side."

"Right..." Astro made a mental note to avoid the asparagus. "Hey, Dad!"

"Hello, son," his dad greeted him, already sitting at the table. "Hungry?"

"Starved," Astro sighed, sitting next to him. He paused. "Er, question... If I'm a robot, how come I get hungry?"

"Just the way I programmed you to make you seem more human," Tenma answered, smiling. Astro nodded, humming a bit. "Speaking of programming, I was thinking about giving you some upgrades."

"Seriously?" Astro raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well, to begin with, I think those arm cannons could be a bit more powerful," his dad began.

Astro opened his mouth to tell him, 'no, I think the arm cannons are plenty powerful, thank you,' as he remembered the first time he fired them. The kickback had been so strong, he'd flown backwards at least thirty yards.

His dad shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I just thought it was time, you know, because you're the protector of Metro City. Your battle with the Peacekeeper resulted...well, badly." Astro grimaced slightly as he continued. "But at least you won. And the alien was really nothing. But think about all of the other threats that could be out there," he went on. "There could be _millions_ of other things you'd need to destroy to save this city; more aliens, asteroids...even rogue robots, for that matter!"

Astro rose an eyebrow. _"Are_ there any rogue robots?"

"Well, no, not yet. But with all of the people on the Surface now able to freely walk among Metro City, who knows _what_ will happen!"

Astro frowned, slightly uncomfortable with the fact that his dad thought that everyone on the Surface was a bad person. He wanted to open his mouth and remind him about his friends from the Surface, but sighed and kept it to himself.

Orrin rolled in the dining room with two trays in his hands, setting them on the table with a smile. "Dinner is served!" he said cheerfully.

Forgetting his uneasiness, Astro eyed his dinner hungrily, picking up his knife and fork and began to dig into the food.

"So are you okay with the idea of the upgrades?"

Astro looked up, a piece of food hanging from his mouth. He dropped it to the plate and nodded after a split-second of hesitation. "Sure, sure!" he answered. "It's okay with me... Say, Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Are there...any other unexpected weapons that I have programmed into me?" Astro pondered, remembering the machine guns that came out of his butt when he was battling the Peacekeeper and how surprised he had been.

After a moment, his dad laughed, wiping his mouth. "No, son. No more surprise weapons."

He let out a breath of relief. "That's good."

There was a moment of silence between the two before Astro broke it once more.

"What am I going to do about school?" he asked his dad. "I know it's summer break and all right now, but...when the school term rolls around... Do you think it would be fair to the other students for me to go? I mean...I am a r-robot, after all," he stuttered. It was actually quite easy to forget himself that he was a robot; he felt and thought so many things just like a human did.

"Well, how do you feel about going to school?" his father asked him. "If you're too uncomfortable, we could just download the criteria you need and you could continue as a full-time protector of the city. But if you're wanting to have more of the social life, I think going to school would be a good idea."

"Well...when you put it that way..." Astro trailed off. "I do kind of want to see my friends more often. Though Zane and the twins will be on the Surface, Cora's going to go to Metro High starting in the Fall. Plus...I dunno, maybe having more friends will be good for me... I don't know."

"Just think about it, son. You still have a couple months." Tenma smiled.

* * *

Later that night, Astro sighed. He sat on his bed with his legs dangling over the edge of his bed as he stared out his large bedroom window at the moon. So many things had happened over the last few months; so many things that Astro never really wanted to experience again. Over the course of a few days, he was created, rejected, and thrown away like trash, only to be brought back to save the city that he loved, which resulted in his death. He knew that he would have to protect the city, and in doing so, Astro knew that he would give his life for the citizens of Metro City, especially his friends on the Surface.

His memories flitted over the time he had spent on the Surface with Hamegg and his orphans, smiling. He remembered befriending the four children and bringing ZOG back to life... He frowned as he remembered the selfishness and rage that Hamegg had shown once he found out that Astro was a robot, putting him into his robot games even though he knew that he might've never come back. After the battle with the Peacekeeper, Astro and the orphans had gone back to Hamegg in spite, only to be completely surprised when the man had surrendered and apologized, claiming that he had only done so to get back at Metro City; most importantly Dr. Tenma.

Astro had told him afterwards that he was created as a replacement for Dr. Tenma's son Toby, after the boy had been murdered at the hands of the Peacekeeper. Immediately, Hamegg had been shocked, never knowing that Dr. Tenma had had a son, let alone known that his son had fallen victim to a rogue robot. After he apologized, Astro had forgiven Hamegg for what he had done, as well as apologized to Cora and the others for not telling them that he was a robot sooner.

Astro laid back on his bed with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Thinking about school and making new friends made him smile. He soon knew his decision about the new school semester, and would tell his dad tomorrow when he took him in for upgrades. As his smile grew larger, he closed his eyes, powering down for a nice long nap.

* * *

"I've decided."

Astro's dad looked up from his newspaper at his robot son standing in the doorway of the dining room. "About what, son?"

He inched in farther and stopped next to his dad. "About school this Fall. I've decided to go."

"Great, Astro!" Tenma chuckled, rubbing Astro's shoulder. "I bet you'll make tons of friends now that you're the protector of Metro City."

Uneasiness flashed in Astro's eyes as he looked down. "That's not why I want to go—"

"Nonsense, son. Come along now," his dad added, setting down the paper and standing. "Let's get ready to go to the lab for your upgrades. Go grab some breakfast from Orrin in the kitchen and meet me by the limo when you're ready."

Astro watched as his dad walked out of the dining room, the door closing behind him. He frowned slightly. _Is that the only thing he cares about? That I'm protector of Metro City now, and because of that, more people will pay attention to me?_ Astro sighed, turning and heading into the kitchen.

Orrin turned as Astro entered. "Hello, Mas—Astro!" he quickly corrected. Astro chuckled slightly. Orrin still had to get used to the fact he wasn't his 'Master' anymore.

"Hey, Orrin," Astro greeted, leaning on the counter. "What's for breakfast?"

The housebot swung around, a plate in his hand. "The traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon, with some orange juice!"

As he set the plate in front of Astro, he began to eat hastily, trying to hurry as fast as he could so he wouldn't take too long. He knew his dad wouldn't be happy if it took him too long to eat breakfast.

Astro was soon finished with his food and hurried up to his room to brush his teeth and throw on a quick change of clothes. Practically flying down the stairs, he hurried for the front door and towards the parking garage where the limo waited. His father sat in the driver's seat and smiled as he approached. The door slid open in front of Astro and he hopped in as quickly as he could, buckling himself in.

"And we're off!" his dad exclaimed, zooming onto the highway and towards the Ministry of Science.

The doors to the lab opened with a swoosh, and Astro and his father stepped inside. They were greeted with the sight of Elefun standing in front of a computer and typing something. He looked up when the two entered, giving a kind smile. "Hello, Astro!" he greeted.

"Hi, Dr. Elefun," Astro responded.

"Ready for some upgrades?" he asked him.

"Yeah, I guess." Astro shrugged. He stopped, suddenly thinking of something. "Hey...Dad? Can I give a request for one of the upgrades?"

"Depends on what it is," his father replied, chuckling.

"Well...you know how I kind of...lost my clothes when I defeated the Peacekeeper?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I was thinking...what if something like that happens again? I mean, not me dying hopefully, but if I possibly encounter a rogue robot or...you know—something that makes me lose my clothes..." Astro rubbed the back of his head. "Do you think you could...I dunno...make me some sort of armor? Th-that comes out of my skin, maybe?"

"Armor?" His father rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

"Plus, I'll look much cooler in armor than my underpants, if you get what I'm saying," Astro chuckled nervously.

"But if it came out of your skin, wouldn't it ruin your clothes?" Elefun pointed out.

Astro opened his mouth to answer, but realized he had a point. "Okay...a backpack, maybe? No, I might lose that...uh..."

"Wait." Tenma snapped his fingers. "There's this one material—still in beta processing, but it just might work. Its threads are embedded with these sort of micro-links that can be torn apart and then immediately link back together, so no one has to deal with ripped clothing. That way you could have the armor; which is definitely not a bad idea."

"When will you have the material ready, then?" Astro asked him.

"It will probably take me a day at the most to get the people who made that material some shirts and pants your size. And I'm assuming you want a variety, not just white everything?"

"Uh, yes please!" Astro grinned.

His father smiled back at him, and then turned to the computer again. "Now about that armor..." he murmured, picking up a stylus and starting to sketch out some designs as Astro watched over his shoulder.

* * *

"What do you think?" Tenma asked. It was approximately 8 PM in the evening, and Astro was admiring the new armor he was currently wearing. He secretly marveled how his dad had been able to build it so quickly, but then he reminded himself that robotic things as well as armor were his father's specialty—not to mention his dad was a genius.

It was a light blue in color, with black shoulder pads and a belt. His neck, biceps, and calves were a slightly darker blue, and on his forearms were thick red armguards matching his boots. Astro looked over his shiny new armor, grinning like mad. "This. Is. EPIC!" he exclaimed, jumping into the air and activating his rockets.

"I also took the liberty to add some thrusters," his dad told him. "Now you can go four times faster than before."

"Sweet!" Astro activated his thrusters, and they popped out of his back like small fins. He took a practice lap around the laboratory, going faster and faster.

"Careful!" he heard Dr. Elefun call.

"Okay!" Astro called back, slowing down a bit. He landed in front of the two, grinning wildly. "Man, I can't _wait_ to show this to Cora!" he exclaimed. "A-and Zane and Widget and Sludge too, I mean," he added quickly with a slight cough. Dr. Elefun chuckled slightly at his words.

* * *

The next day, Astro launched himself out of his bed, threw on a pair of clothes, and ran out of his room. He quickly told Orrin he was going to visit the others on the Surface, since he didn't get a chance yesterday.

"Will you be back for dinner?" Orrin asked. Astro hesitated.

"Actually, tell Dad I'm going to be later than that," he told him. "Before eleven, definitely, but I might pass on dinner. Friends, you know?"

"Well...alright then," Orrin said hesitantly.

Astro grinned at him and then ran to the patio, jumping off. Astro's rockets activated, glowing a bright blue in color, and he shot into the air at an intense speed. "WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!" he screamed, shooting into the clouds. He decided to activate his new suit—forgetting he didn't have those special clothes yet—and yelped when the suit tore through his clothes, appearing around him.

"Whoops..." he muttered. "That's a problem." Pausing in midair, he pondered for a moment if he should go back and get another pair of clothes, but shrugged off the idea and zoomed once again towards the Surface.

Astro pressed the side of his helmet and a light blue screen popped up in his line of vision. "Text Cora," he ordered aloud. Another box appeared with Cora's name at the top and a message box below. "Ask her where I should meet them." With a slight ding, the message was sent and the blue screen disappeared. He decided to do a few loops in the air, whooping loudly with joy as he spun faster and faster. Astro zoomed forward again, breaking free from Metro City and towards the Surface, passing many tall piles of junk, causing some of the free-falling pieces to clutter off and fall to the ground.

"AHH!" Astro screamed as another loud ding sounded and the blue screen appeared in his face. He immediately crashed into a pile of junk, going all the way through and falling to the ground on the other side. He sat up wearily, holding his head. "Okay...mental note. Don't text while driving—er, flying."

He quickly read the text Cora had sent, which read she and the others were at the bridge waiting for him. He quickly shot into the air and towards the meeting place, excitement building in his chest again. _Just wait till they see this!_ he thought to himself.

The bridge appeared in view, and he saw Cora and the others waiting for him. His grin widened as he neared, and saw their faces turning from happy to downright confused. He landed in front of them and allowed his helmet to lift off his face. He grinned and waved. "Hi," he greeted.

"HOLY CRAP, YOU HAVE ARMOR!" Zane cried.

"YOU LOOK AMAZING!" Cora squealed, running over to inspect his new addition.

"Yeah, I got some upgrades," Astro replied, shrugging nonchalantly, though inside he was just as excited as they were. "Better than the underpants, right?"

"Ten times better," Cora confirmed. "You look bad—er, awesome," she quickly corrected, glancing at the twins for a brief moment.

"What else did you get for upgrades?" Sludge asked excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"Well, I got upgraded cannons, thrusters for my boots..." Astro broke off as Sludge and Widget came up and tapped on his suit inquisitively. "Uh..."

"It comes off, right?" Sludge asked, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes.

Astro grinned. "Yup—though... I don't want to take it off right now... Um...for reasons..."

"Why, are you only wearing underpants underneath?" Zane smirked. Astro flushed.

"Well, kind of. I forgot...um..."

"You forgot your clothes?" Cora raised an eyebrow.

"No! No, no, no, no, no! No, I didn't forget—I...uh... Well see my suit comes out from under my skin, so it tore my clothes I was wearing, and... I forgot that I wasn't wearing these new ones Dad got me that repair themselves."

"Wait... You have clothes...that _repair_ themselves?"

"Yeah."

"THAT IS _AWESOME!"_ Sludge crowed, making Astro grin widely.

"So let's get going!" Zane said suddenly, causing Astro to snap his head towards him, his brow furrowed as Zane began walking away.

"Where are we going exactly?" Astro wondered aloud as the rest of the group began to follow him, Astro quickly trailing behind.

"Hamegg's still looking for some parts for his nanny-bot," Cora explained with a shrug. "We're going to go look for some out in the junkyard."

"What parts? Maybe I can help." Astro watched as Cora took out a small piece of metal, slightly round and cylindrical, but with a bolt at the top.

"We're looking for a couple more of these," she answered, holding it out farther. "They're called...uh..." She paused, scratching the back of her neck.

"Nova cores?" Astro laughed as her cheeks flushed.

"I was getting to that!" she huffed. "But yeah, those thingies."

"Hey, guys!" Cora and Astro looked up and saw Zane on the top of a mound—how he got up there so fast, Astro would never know—and tugged on a piece of junk. "I think I found som—whoa, whoa, WHOOOA!" He tripped and fell over backwards, falling down the other side of the large junk pile. They heard him crash on the other side. Astro and Cora glanced at each other, rolling their eyes.

"Come on," Cora muttered. "He'd better not have fallen into another tube or something..." They walked around the large mound, but to their surprise, two other people they had never seen before had gotten there first, helping Zane to his feet. One of them—a boy with dark, dirty blonde hair—was sporting a large bruise on his forehead, and the other—a girl with golden hair and freckles—was looking rather smug as she helped Zane to his feet.

"Don't deny it, the tarots were right, Blaze!" the girl was saying. "I _told_ you this was going to happen."

"No, you predicted _misfortune_ would fall upon me and bring me pain," the boy—Blaze—retorted.

"Exactly; a _kid_ fell upon you, and gave you a bruise. Pain. Don't doubt the tarots!"

"Why would carrots tell you I was gonna fall on top of him?" Zane asked, confused.

The girl rolled her eyes dramatically. "Not _carrots. Tarots."_

"Zane, you _idiot!"_ Cora hissed, hurrying over to them. "You seriously need to stop being so clumsy."

"He's a boy," the girl put in, smirking. "Boys are always clumsy. Take _this_ one, for example," she added, pointing to Blaze.

"You're so mean," Blaze pouted with a sigh, crossing his arms.

"Anyway, I'm so sorry about that," Cora apologized with a roll of her eyes. "He's been falling into and onto things since he was born."

"It's no biggie," the girl giggled. Her eyes immediately fixated onto Astro, suit and all. She looked him up and down, her eyes narrowed. "You look very familiar... Have we met before?"

Astro frowned and shook his head. "I don't think so—"

"HOLY CRAP, THAT'S ASTRO BOY!" Blaze exclaimed with a point of his finger. He looked over at the girl, who had a look of complete doubt on her face, her brow raised. "You know... _the_ Astro Boy? Famous protector of Metro City? Saved us from a FREAKING GIANT RAMPAGING ROBOT!" Blaze shouted, waving his hands in the air.

Astro shrunk back a little at his words, flushing. "I'm not exactly _that_ famous..." He rubbed the back of his head.

Blaze gaped at him. "You've got one seriously messed up modesty chip," he said. "Dude, you're a freaking _hero!_ CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?"

"Blaze, shut it! Stop embarrassing me!" the girl cut in, jerking her brother back rather harshly.

"Sheesh, Lila, I was just asking him..." Blaze murmured, rubbing his arm sheepishly.

Lila sighed. "Anywho, I'm Lila, and this is my brother, Blaze," she introduced them, punching her brother in the arm.

"Ow...!" Blaze hissed.

"Nice to meet you guys," Astro said with a smile. "I'm Astro—of course—and this is Cora and Zane," he added, pointing to each in turn.

"Nice to meet you," Lila greeted.

"So what's with the new look?" Blaze asked, pointing at his new armor.

"Huh?" Astro looked down at himself, almost forgetting he had armor on. "Oh! I just got a few upgrades is all. Just some things that are necessary, I guess."

"I found one!" Widget called from a faraway junkpile, holding up a cylinder, Sludge at her side.

Zane pointed over his shoulder. "I better go check it out," he said, hurrying towards the twins, eager to get away.

"Whatcha lookin for?" Lila asked.

"Nova cores," Cora replied. "Can I ask what you're looking for?"

"Oh, nothing really. Blaze and I were just exploring." Lila shrugged. "We're from Metro City."

"And we've been _dying_ to explore the surface forever!" Blaze added. "Well, _I_ have anyway."

"Yeah, he just dragged me along," Lila sighed. "I didn't really have anything better to do, so I came with."

Zane and the twins rushed back over. "Widget and Sludge managed to find one," Zane told Cora, holding up the cylinder. "It's a bit rusted, but it's still got quite a bit of juice left."

"I say we split up and meet back here for dinner at Hamegg's," Cora suggested, looking to Astro for approval.

He nodded. "Sounds good. I'll go search farther towards the city; who knows, maybe there are some recently dumped ones lying around." He looked at Blaze and Lila. "You want to help?"

"Sure!" Blaze responded, his face brightening at the thought of adventure. "Nova cores, you said you're looking for?"

"Yep. They look like this," Zane told them, holding out the cylinder for them to examine.

As the twins, Zane, and the siblings hurried off to go look for the part, Cora turned to Astro. "You want me to come with you, Astro?"

Astro shook his head. "No, it's okay. I'll meet you guys back at Hamegg's for dinner," he replied. Hurt flashed in Cora's eyes as Astro turned and flew off towards Metro City, and with a sigh, she turned and began off in the opposite direction, head low and hands in her pockets.

* * *

Astro zoomed high above the junkpiles, using his NavLocator inside his helmet to help him look for anything cylindrical. It wasn't pinpoint accurate on dead machinery, but it was—however—on anything else. "Okay...nova cores, nova cores..." he murmured to himself as he looked left and right, the locator looking around at every piece of old junk.

Beeping, his locator zoomed in on a cylindrical object. "Aha!" he breathed in triumph, hurrying down towards it. As he neared, he landed neatly and lifted his faceplate to get a better look at the object. It was lodged in the pile tightly. Astro placed one hand on the container and tugged—but it wouldn't budge. Frowning, he placed his other hand around the other side and tugged harder. It still wouldn't budge.

"Why is this so difficult?" he huffed to himself as he pulled again with all his might. Finally, it broke free, sending Astro sprawling on the ground a few feet away. He slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his neck, and crawled the remainder of the way to where the container lie. Picking it up, he took a closer look at it, narrowing his eyes as he examined the container. "This isn't a nova core..." he murmured, turning the object over. It was a solid gray aluminum container, but it was much larger than any other aluminum tube he'd seen used before.

"Strange..." he murmured. Shrugging, he tossed it back onto the pile and jumped back into the air, zooming back towards the bridge to meet his friends.

The container beeped, phasing the aluminum on the outside away, revealing a dark piece of metal inside. It glowed a pale silver, hardly even visible in the dying sunlight. With a shudder, the container broke open, and the piece of metal began to morph into a human shape, a deep, dark laugh escaping from its newly formed mouth.

 _"My child...you have come. My child...essence of blue."_

* * *

 **A/N:** Star fragment, why you gotta be such an ass lol Anyway, my friend and I drew up some concept art for Astro's new suit, if you want to check it out. The link to my DeviantART profile is on my FFN profile, just look in my Astro Boy gallery and you'll find it :p

Review my lovelies~


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